On Christmas morning, only one gift mattered to Molly LaBarre from Northern Michigan — tickets to see Caitlin Clark.
Forget that it would require 13 hours in the car and two days off from school — no complaints there. All she, her sister Natalie and best friend Roz Whinnery wanted was to see their hero sink a pull-up three from the logo.
On Wednesday night, they got more than they asked for. Clark’s 35 points in No. 3 Iowa’s 110-74 win were enough to move her past Kelsey Mitchell into second place on the NCAA all-time women’s scoring list and into first on the Big Ten’s list. All of it in front of 7,039 fans, the first sellout in Northwestern women’s basketball history
“We loved basketball before [we saw Clark play],” Molly said.
“She just made it 10 times better,” Whinnery added.
She's got moves 🤩@CaitlinClark22 x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/3PrrplTIjE
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) February 1, 2024
It took Clark eight minutes to pass Jackie Stiles, whom she trailed by four points coming into the game, for third on the all-time list. She got it done with her second three of the night, a pull-up in transition.
With under five minutes left in the second quarter, Clark passed Mitchell to take the No. 2 spot on the NCAA list and become the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer on the same driving layup. Clark’s 3,424 career points are 103 behind Kelsey Plum (3,527) for the scoring title. She checked out of the game at the 4:25 mark in the fourth quarter to a standing ovation, adding 10 assists and six rebounds to another historic night.
“Honestly, I didn’t even know at what point [I set a record],” Clark said. “The coolest thing are the names that I get to be around. Those are people I grew up watching.”
Sitting four rows behind Iowa’s bench was Allison Kunz, one of Iowa coach Lisa Bluder’s former players at Drake, who still has vivid memories defending Stiles.
“Jackie drew big crowds,” Kunz said. “Not to this level, but she was a big scorer, just like Clark and would make you pay from anywhere on the floor. Just when you thought you had her defended well, she’d score.”
Moments before the game tipped off, chants for the Hawkeyes broke out among the sellout crowd, making it clear — if it wasn’t already by the number of No. 22 jerseys and posters bearing Clark’s name — that everyone came to see the 6-foot point guard from Iowa.
Some of those posters had adoring messages, and others were decorated with her scoring stats. One was simply a giant blanket with an image of Clark’s iconic shoulder shrug, which has drawn comparison to Michael Jordan.
What was evident by the crowd’s reaction to Clark, including that of Molly, Natalie and Whinnery, was the impact she’s having and how far it extends beyond basketball.
Devoted is adequate when describing how her fans feel. It’s made clear by the lengths they’re willing to go to see her play — the first fans lined up at 10 a.m. Wednesday to secure good seats — and the language they use to explain what it is that drew them in.
“She’s the GOAT of women’s and men’s basketball,” Molly said.
Molly, Natalie and Whinnery’s love for Clark was illuminated in the way their eyes tracked her every movement through warmups. As the three girls stood in their seats two rows back at center court, their eagerness to catch Clark’s attention came through with every scream of her name.
